Indepth discussion of the infamous El Reno, OK, tornado of May 31, 2013. We'll discuss the meteorology behind the event before diving into the behavior and mechanics of the tornado, including the tornadogenesis process, satellite and subvortices and how they impacted storm research teams, the tornado's erratic/deviant motion and how it could have been forecast, and more.

Thanks to Brett Wright for the awesome thumbnail photo, and to Micah Hart for providing the RadarScope imagery in this video.

Chapters:

0:00 Introduction
2:51 Meteorological discussion
23:48 Event progression/radar overview
29:17 Nondescending tornadogenesis
39:23 Satellite vortex (w/ hires RaXPol data)
41:56 Deviant tornado motion
55:12 Multivortex behavior
57:16 Violent subvortex and its impact on TWC/Twistex crews
1:05:06 Strong anticyclonic tornado
1:07:04 Analyzing the transition to flooding threat for OKC
1:10:41 Conclusions

Resources:

NWS Norman event page: https://www.weather.gov/oun/events20...

"A Multiscale Overview of the El Reno, Oklahoma, Tornadic Supercell of 31 May 2013" Bluestein et al. 2015: https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/jou...

"Tornadogenesis and Early Tornado Evolution in the El Reno, Oklahoma, Supercell on 31 May 2013" Bluestein et al. 2019: https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/jou...

"The Role of MultipleVortex Tornado Structure in Causing Storm Researcher Fatalities" Wurman et al. 2014: https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/jou...

"The MultipleVortex Structure of the El Reno, Oklahoma, Tornado on 31 May 2013" Bluestein et al. 2018: https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/jou...

Cameron Nixon's blog article on the deviant tornado motion hodograph technique: https://cameronnixonphotography.wordp...

"Anticipating Deviant Tornado Motion Using a Simple Hodograph Technique" Nixon and Allen 2021: https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/jou...

"Reexamining the Vertical Development of Tornadic Vortex Signatures in Supercells" French et al. 2013: https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/jou...

"Photogrammetric Analysis of the 2013 El Reno Tornado Combined with Mobile XBand Polarimetric Radar Data" Wakimoto et al. 2015: https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/jou...

"Formation of Mesoscale Lines of Precipitation: Severe Squall Lines in Oklahoma during the Spring" Bluestein and Jain 1985: https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/jou...

"Analysis of Tornadic Supercells Using Two RapidScan, Mobile Doppler Radars" Greenwood 2021 (my Master's thesis): https://shareok.org/handle/11244/330737